Chickens!

Still Life with Chickens. Catherine Goldhammer.

What to say? Beautiful words, a poetic voice, a starting-over story that feels as if I could have lived it myself--except that I didn't. This middle-aged freshly divorced poet woman and her dilapidated house by the sea and her delightful daughter and her new little chicks--chickens! Always wanted some of those...

This book made me laugh and cry. A two-hour read: an emergency trip to find the place you think your dreams are, then a slow shuttle to where they really live. What's not to love?

New York: Penguin, 2006.

Next good read

Well, my son and I both read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. It lived up to its hype, and I know tons more about football as a result of reading it. This book worked for me, since I am all about learning new things these days. I have to say, though, that the narrative gets a little repetitive in spots--the book could have used a slightly more hands-on approach with editing. But Lewis is great with characterization, and Michael Oher and his unofficial family come alive in the pages. I will enjoy following his career. My son, a highschool freshman, absolutely loved this book--he finished it in like a day and a half! You've got to love a book like that.

The next good read in store for me is Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson. Now this is a 2006 award-winner, not a hot-off-the press title--you're reading the wrong blog if you think I can keep you up to date on the latest releases. But this is one I want to make time for. It's about a Montana man who establishes schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it sounds like it will fit the bill for lovers of plot and suspense. If you're curious, you can find out more about it here:

Allconfounding

Allconsuming: check. Alrighty then. There may be a few people out there in 2.0-land who have LOTS of time on their hands. If they come to me and ask how they can get rid of it, I'll be all set. I feel like I just got off that teacup ride at the amusement park, and now I need to go throw up. But I love the language they use on Allconsuming--especially HUH.

The World of Google

Some of the google gadgets are fun, and a few are useful, though I wonder if actually having them on your page would embarrass you with the seriously techy crowd in much the same way as it embarrasses my daughter that I still have Tom as my friend on my myspace page. (What she doesn't know: Tom is really, really my friend! He may be faking it with y'all, but with me I can tell it's the real deal.)

We are doing lots of new stuff at a fast pace, and I think we need to pay more attention to privacy and security issues. Working at different reference desks, several times I've accidentally opened people's google stuff they forgot to log out of. It is easy to go from gmail to google docs to igoogle and then forget to log out of gmail, I guess. Or maybe the problem is that you have to opt out of "remember me on this computer." As for Facebook, what is that guy in our department learning from those girls' pages? What's he doing with his notebook with all the checkmarks in all the columns next to all the girls' names? Maybe we can have him do a workshop for us.

Look what I can do:

A work-related post

I've enjoyed looking at everyone's blogs. What interesting creative people you all are! I noticed that I tend to like the blogs with plenty of white space and some pics and a link or two--but not so many things in there that I feel like I need to take a vacation day and go exploring. I see that I need to shorten up my posts. Also, by now it is clear that this 2.0 class is going to take a huge amount of time. And right at the end of the book-buying year!

Tomorrow I'm going to show my husband how to set up an RSS feed. He'll love it. Meanwhile my stuff's going pretty much unread, as I'm spending my odd moments poking through screencasts and tutorials.

One thing I love about gmail is the autosave. I've lost a few long emails in progress over the years. Next I will be exploring google docs. And I'm looking forward to some of the gadgets.

The Blind Side

I want to pass along a reader recommendation of The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. I haven't yet read this book, but the reviews are so good that I have put it on hold for my son, who is a football buff. And after he finishes it, I'll read it too. Here's what my colleague has to say:

"I recommend Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. It's a true sports/human interest story that reads very much like fiction."

And here are a couple of other reviews if you're not convinced.

"If you love football, you'll find the X's and O's discussion enthralling. If you love a good tale, you'll keep turning pages to find out more about the mystery of Oher's past and what has become of him." San Jose Mercury News

"The reclusive son of a drug-addled single mom suddenly becomes one of the most valued football prospects in America. How? A year before the scouts came calling, Michael Oher had virtually no formal education, no social skills, and no athletic experience. In The Blind Side, Michael Lewis investigates changes in the pro game that turned a formerly anonymous position, offensive left tackle, into the NFL's second highest paying job. Among the beneficiaries, he discovers Big Mike. You'll laugh, you'll cry — really: On the outskirts of Memphis, Lewis unearths a fascinating story of compassion, commitment, and life-altering second chances."
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

Blind Side, Evolution of a Game, Lewis, Michael. New York: Norton, 2006.

One Red Paperclip

This fun adventure by young Canadian "instant Internet celebrity" Kyle MacDonald chronicles his hair-brained quest to trade one red paperclip for something bigger and better until he ultimately achieves his goal: trading for a house! In July 2005 he made his first trade. His blog captured the attention of the online community and shortly after that, his adventure captured the imagination of the mainstream media. The resulting publicity propelled his trades to higher heights, and by July 2006 made it possible for him to achieve his goal.

(The trades: paperclip for fish pen, fish pen for doorknob, doorknob for old camp stove...and he's off and running...)

The book fleshes out the backstory on all the trades Kyle made and even some that he didn't. It's a captivating narrative punctuated by pictures and captions and punchy, upbeat inspirational messages on the theme of opening up to the possibilities that life has to offer. Kyle is a hipster hero with a big heart and enough naivete that we can all laugh and hope with him on his sometimes bungling pursuit of the dream. I can't wait for the sequel, which will no doubt detail how MacDonald continues to avoid full-time employment in ever more creative ways.

One Red Paperclip, Kyle MacDonald. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.
isbn 978-0-307-35316-0

Check it out

From the time I learned to do it, my love of reading has focused around fiction. In this space I'd like to write about nonfiction books that are every bit as gripping as the novels I've always preferred.

Fiction lovers are drawn to novels because they find one of several tantalizing elements there: first, words--a delicious turn of phrase, a lovely image that instantly turns the world inside out, or the pure lyricism of a well-written sentence. Second, the element of escape. In order for a book to become a mental destination, it needs to offer a plot or a sense of suspense, or capture a time or place so powerfully that we are drawn in unaware. Third, a journey--everyone loves a quest. Fourth, brilliant characterization. Because at the core, when we read literature we are trying to unite with humanity: to share the experience of living with all those who join us in the written sphere of the heart. If a nonfiction work offers up one of these elements richly enough, it can capture the attention of even the most diehard fiction devotee.